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PA Comic: Wednesday, Dec 28, 2011 - Real Talk

Posts

Here's the thing I don't understand about this whole situation, and it's something that nobody else has asked, as far as I've seen...

Paul Christoforo was supposedly from a separate company, Ocean Marketing, which was contracted to do Public Relations work for the Avenger controller product. So why the heck was he handling basic, low-level customer service tasks like answering individual emails asking when a product would ship?

Here's the thing I don't understand about this whole situation, and it's something that nobody else has asked, as far as I've seen...

Paul Christoforo was supposedly from a separate company, Ocean Marketing, which was contracted to do Public Relations work for the Avenger controller product. So why the heck was he handling basic, low-level customer service tasks like answering individual emails asking when a product would ship?

Because the company hired to do that work apparantly bailed because they had to deal with Christoforo from what I heard.

NATIK on December 2011

0

CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular

There's nothing really new in this article, but I'm sharing it because it has yet another terrible picture of Paulie C. You'd think by this point someone would have found ONE presentable picture of the guy.

Here's the thing I don't understand about this whole situation, and it's something that nobody else has asked, as far as I've seen...

Paul Christoforo was supposedly from a separate company, Ocean Marketing, which was contracted to do Public Relations work for the Avenger controller product. So why the heck was he handling basic, low-level customer service tasks like answering individual emails asking when a product would ship?

Here's the thing I don't understand about this whole situation, and it's something that nobody else has asked, as far as I've seen...

Paul Christoforo was supposedly from a separate company, Ocean Marketing, which was contracted to do Public Relations work for the Avenger controller product. So why the heck was he handling basic, low-level customer service tasks like answering individual emails asking when a product would ship?

There's nothing really new in this article, but I'm sharing it because it has yet another terrible picture of Paulie C. You'd think by this point someone would have found ONE presentable picture of the guy.

That article is fairly inaccurate in its presentation of Christoforo's relationship to Kotkin. Misinformation like that rather upsets me. If they wanted a new angle, they should have just gone with "check out this picture, yo"

There's nothing really new in this article, but I'm sharing it because it has yet another terrible picture of Paulie C. You'd think by this point someone would have found ONE presentable picture of the guy.

That article is fairly inaccurate in its presentation of Christoforo's relationship to Kotkin. Misinformation like that rather upsets me. If they wanted a new angle, they should have just gone with "check out this picture, yo"

Well, it's kind of disappointing that despite the fact that (in my opinion) the press release debunks all the stuff about the two of them being business partners, etc., there are some people who are still certain that there's some kind of weird conspiracy theory about Christoforo and Kotkin, that Christoforo is still on the payroll or whatever. People continue to write 1-star reviews on Amazon because of the fiasco. If you read some of the paranoia there it's pretty bizarre - people assuming that every 5 star review is a "corporate shill", and saying that "the "sick kids" angle only got trotted out after the controversy! This controller doesn't even help the disabled" - even to people who, by their reviews, actually have disabled kids. Being part of the gamer culture is embarrassing sometimes.

Still, I suppose you can't expect people to warm up to the company immediately, in light of what happened. As has already been stated, the new PR guy has an uphill battle.

Paulie C. seems to be working hard to show just how much of a dick bag he can be:

I've been trying to get him to give up the access to these things he's been holding hostage (email accounts, Twitter, etc) by asking nicely for a couple of days. The gloves are off now.
Paul told me on the phone two hours ago that "Eight months ago, I locked down all this stuff so they wouldn't be able to fuck with me. If they don't give me what I want, it's war." His demands include a contract written on his terms and substantial compensation, both immediate and for as long as the company continues to exist. He flaunted the PR debacle he created as proof that he "made the company a success", citing all the media and public attention as the "best thing that ever happened to Avenger".
He didn't count on the fact that I anticipated all of this and have been a computer hardware and web tech since I was 14.
The thing we did have is control over the AvengerController.com domain. It was transferred away from its original account, which Paul has complete control of. Because of how GoDaddy works, that old account retained all of the email addresses and their master control settings (forwarding and so on). He has continued to respond to customer emails from his personal GMail account and lied to me repeatedly about doing so.
I tried to play nice, and Paul played stupid, acting like he didn't have access to this master account, blaming his "Indian outsourced tech team" being on vacation. I gave him two days to give over N-Control's digital property.
He finally leveled with me tonight that he knew I wasn't that stupid and that he was lying about his access to all these accounts. That's when he issued the above-mentioned threat. He reiterated that he had the hosting, email, and everything on lockdown.
Unfortunately, since he doesn't control the domain, he couldn't be more wrong. "James", a GoDaddy support rep and avid redditor, who knew exactly who I was, confirmed that I could do exactly what I wanted to...
Around a hour ago, I parked the domain and killed all the CNAME settings. All that email and the website may be sitting on servers he has access to, but he can't log in to any of the mail or do anything to the website.
I'm getting on the phone with the hosting company to try to get help from them, now that we're past the point of diplomacy.

Holy shit, you guys. I mean I guess there's really nothing surprising here, this is exactly how Paulie C. struck me from the start, but it's just amazing how unself-aware a person can be:

I'm incorporating a lot of what I want to say about the series of phone conversations I've had with him.
I should preface by saying that I have the sense to leave things at a factual level as much as possible rather than open myself up to claims of defamation, which Paul has routinely thrown around while at once defaming others.
I agree with the notion that one does not negotiate with terrorists, which includes bullies. I say that because I have been strategically pacifying a bully for a couple of days now, and I'm done. Diplomacy has failed.
I've spoken to Paul many, many times over the last few days.
One of the main things that I've learned about him is that he is most concerned about the well-being of his wife and small child, along with his ability to make a living. I can respect and appreciate those things objectively. What I've also learned is that he is partial to protecting those interests without any consideration given to common courtesy or professional engagement.
Every comment regarding N-Control's separation from him was met with complaints to me centered around how N-Control was hurting his family and reputation. He insisted that he did the best thing that ever could have happened to the Avenger and N-Control. It is true that there are some positive vibes coming out of this, but I don't think it's inaccurate to say that the majority of that has all resulted from the damage control I put in place on N-Control's behalf. If you take his actions and delete me or someone doing what I've been doing, there is no turnaround in the first place, much less the huge upswing in sales he is imagining far off into the future. I categorically reject the notion that he can take credit for any of my work, forever and ever amen.
I played nicer than necessary over the last two days, and gave him a chance to do the right thing (return control of Avenger's email addresses, website, and other assets). The worst thing to do is make demands of someone issuing ultimatums when you want something out of them that they know they can use against you. At every step, I was told by Paul that "I like you and everything, and you're reasonable and just trying to do your job, but if they don't do what I say, things are gonna get ugly."
The first day, I told him that if he chose to speak to the press and speak on behalf of N-Control, that all bets were off. He has done that countless times now, and he's been more than warned, and I honestly believe that he doesn't realize that he's doing it. In that early chat, he told me "don't you fucking threaten me! You don't know who the fuck you're dealing with! I will do things to you that you cannot imagine, they are so fucking bad! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M CAPABLE OF!"
I think I know exactly what he's capable of: yelling and intimidation, with no real intent to follow through, The great thing about bullies is that when you've dealt with enough of them, you realize they're all configured the same way, generally speaking.
I was extensively bullied as a kid. Paul's methods and personality are very familiar to me. I think it should be pretty obvious that it indeed "got better" for me.
I de-escalated the conversation with techniques that I learned while caring for children. I reassured him that no one was out to get him, and that he just couldn't lash out like that or no one would want to play with him.
I should note that I don't care if he considers any of this condescending, especially considering the patronizing tone he's taken with me in every conversation we've had.
In our conversations, he has compared himself to no less than Howard Stern and Charlie Sheen. He has proclaimed himself to be the biggest thing on the internet, and has repeatedly touted how much power he thinks he now has with the press. He told me tonight "if they fuck with me, I got all these websites all over me. Whatever I tell them to write, they write." He says that he has a TV interview with SPIKE TV next week. I look forward to him telling them what to do and what to edit into their coverage.
Tonight, he reiterated that in unmistakable, forceful terms. His abrupt swings in tone and mood were astoundingly rapid. He told me he would burn the company to the ground and destroy everyone associated with it, including me, he regretted to inform me. "I know you're just a guy doing a job and you don't know any better. I'm gonna ruin your life if I have to."
Most people would have the urge to destroy him after being told that. Of course, that would only need to be said if he hadn't already done such a capable job of that himself. That's the part of the press release I wrote that I think he really didn't get: he needs to stop hurting himself, and consequently his family. He's making everything worse every time he opens his mouth, and for his family's sake, I wish he would stop. I'd be amazed if he can make himself look any worse, but I don't put that past him.
I hope that people stop giving him attention, because they're just feeding the beast. As for me, I'm done speaking with him on the phone.

Another winner of a picture. " I really didn't do anything wrong, and my reputation is ruined forever." He didn't do anything wrong, you guys! You're supposed threaten people with your made-up connections, that's how life works!

He keeps reiterating that he's not customer service, like doing that is somehow an impossible philosophy for him to grasp. Well let me nutshell it for you "brah". Good customer service is just don't be a dick. That's it. Even if the customer gets snippy, just reasonably answer the questions. If the customer steps over the line simply say this conversation is over I'll forward your concerns on to my supervisor.

he keeps making excuses for his behavior which I'm willing to be all my rupees on is how he's always handled business and will continue to do. The guy has all the earmarks of a bully. I think that's why the Internet is chewing this guy up more than anything.

It's funny because I was reading the email posts on the PA front page and beginning to form a mental picture of this dude

then I decided that was kind of unfair even if he does suck at media/customer relations,* and I felt bad

annnnd then I happened upon this thread, read more and saw the pictures and goddamn every impression I had about him is correct

*

seriously people would be amazed at how often this shit happens (although usually not this publicly) just because so many people/companies continue to have the idea that public relations is glorified scheduling. I love these stories so much for this reason

So, either Paulie C. has been heavily coached and trained in the use of spell check, or he is having someone else write his tweets He posted a series of tweets about an hour ago, stating the following (yeah, I really shouldn't be following his tweets, but I still am finding this whole thing entertaining as hell):

My top 5 New Years Resolutions
1. Be the best customer service rep in the world
2. Treat everyone equal with kindness and respect
3. Take Customer Service Classes
4. Do Not Swear or Name Drop
5. Do anything necessary to show everyone how sorry I am
i here to field a few questions and then gonna wwebsite on XBL ....

Yeah, I'm going to say those tweets were written for him.

He answered my question about whether he was providing the douche-pictures or whether they were just found on the web (he says they were just found), so I'll stop following him now, I think. Nothing more to see here, as it were.